Chapter 1

<Gavin Forrester>

It's dark when our plane hits land in Barbados. Victoria jolts awake and looks out the window. She breathes a sigh of relief when she realizes where we are. Blaze comes out of the cock pit and nods in my direction. I pick up the duffle bags from the floor and stand up, grabbing Victoria's hand in the process. She rubs her eyes a little and then follows me and Blaze out of the plane. Slick is close on her heels and slams the plane door shut the minute we're all out.

The area we landed in is silent, the sounds of crickets and some far off birds being the only sounds in the vicinity. Blaze puts his fingers to his lips and turns on a flashlight. Once my eyes adjust to the little light, I notice that we've landed in some sort of clearing in a forest. Blaze pulls out his phone and types in an address before he continues walking through the thick curtain of trees. The rest of us blindly follow him, hoping he knows where he's going.

"Blaze, where are you taking us?" I ask and hold onto Victoria's hand a bit tighter.

"To a remote lair where no one will hear your screams when I torture you." Blaze chuckles and makes a sharp turn.

"That's nice, can I at least get some sleep first?" Victoria yawns and leans her head on my shoulder.

"Does a bed of nails work for you, princess?" Blaze asks as a house on stilts comes into view.

"Whose house is this, Blaze?" I stare up at the small looking house, noticing that parts of it disappear into the trees.

"My brother's, he moved down here when he got tired of city life." Blaze mutters as he walks towards the house.

"I thought we were going to your friend's house, Gavin? Or some contact's place or something..." Victoria says and looks up at me.

"We called him last night. Apparently the mafia he was involved with got to him first." I bite my lip and continue to follow Blaze to his brother's house.

"I'm sorry," Victoria whispers in a gentle tone.

"It's fine, we're just lucky Blaze found his brother." I smile down at her and kiss her forehead.

We walk up the steep staircase to the white front door of the otherwise blue house. Blaze knocks loudly on the door and waits for his brother to come and open it. I hold Victoria close and lean against the wood railing that wraps around the house to guard the people on the porch from falling off. A man with a buzzcut and a pair of thick framed glasses opens the door a minute after Blaze first knocked. He has the same brown eyes as Blaze and is only a few inches taller.

"Glad you could make it, Blaze. Come in with your friends before anyone suspects anything. I don't get a lot of visitors and I highly doubt you want people to ask questions about you." Blaze's brother steps inside and ushers us all in before shutting the door.

The house is messy to say the least. There's unopened mail all over the kitchen counter and take-out containers crowding the dining room table. The large brown couch is covered in unfolded blankets and pillows are strewn all over the floor around it. Blaze's brother pauses the movie he's watching on the TV and turns to face me.

"I'm Jeffrey," he holds out his hand to me and I accept it politely.

"Gavin and this is Victoria." I let go of his hand and nudge Victoria forward.

She shakes his hand and smiles.

"And you're Slick, right?" Jeffrey turns to face Slick and holds out his hand.

"Yep, it's so nice of you to take us all in." Slick says in a grateful tone.

"Don't mention it, you all are welcome here as long as you need but first I need some questions answered. Now, I'm aware that you all are on the run and I want you all to feel safe here but there needs to be trust in this house. I've done some things in my life that I'm not proud of and I'm willing to tell you why I moved down here if you're willing to tell me what brings you to my house at 2 A.M. Got it?" He looks at each of us and we nod in understanding.

Jeffrey clears off some space on the couch and gestures for all of us to sit down. I sit down on the end of the couch with Victoria next to me. She leans her head on my shoulder and begins to close her eyes.

"Stay awake just for a few minutes." I whisper and run my fingers through her hair.

Victoria sighs and slowly opens her eyes.

"Now, let's clear some things up. I'll tell you why I'm down here and you'll do that same for me in return." Jeffrey narrows his eyes and lingers his stare on each of us before continuing. "I was involved in a drug ring with Carter Jacobson and the minute he got arrested, I fled the city because I knew if some rich boy like him could get caught, then I would be next."

Victoria shudders at the sound of her ex-fiancée's name.

"I was an assassin for hire and I was hired to kill somebody I didn't want to so, I shot my boss and his lover instead. I got put in prison for attempted murder and then I escaped which is why I'm here right now." I hold eye contact with Jeffrey for a few seconds before turning my gaze back to Victoria.

He gives her an expectant look, obviously waiting for her to answer his question.

"I gave him bobby pins so he could escape." She states simply and lets out a deep breath.

"I worked with a dirty cop in Attica to disable the gate and the security cameras so Gavin could get out." Blaze crosses his arms and stares at his brother coolly.

"I dressed up as a cop and helped Gavin get out." Slick looks down at him lap uncomfortably.

"Your secret is safe with me. Now what about all of your stuff or did you just bring these duffle bags?" Jeffrey asks and points at the 2 duffle bags sitting on the floor next to the couch.

"The other stuff got shipped to a different address. We'll need to go pick it up." I stare at Jeffrey who looks deep in thought.

"I have a Jeep, you guys can borrow it tomorrow but let me show you to your rooms so you all can sleep." Jeffrey stands up and walks down a hallway.

We all follow him and I bring up the rear, picking up my duffle bags on the way down the hallway. Jeffrey stops at a closed door. He opens it and gestures for Slick and Blaze to take that room. The pair of them walk in and breathe a sigh of relief. Jeffrey continues to walk silently down the hallway and Victoria and I follow him. He opens up another door and leads us into a room where there's a queen bed and an air mattress.

"Bathroom's to your left and the balcony has a great view of the forest. Goodnight." Jeffrey closes the door and leaves Victoria and I alone.

The room is pretty big. There's the bed and the air mattress but also a pair of torn up recliner chairs that have ratty patchwork blankets thrown over them. There's some of French doors that lead to a balcony which overlooks the forest. The last thing is the room is a dinky bathroom with a stand up shower.

I finish surveying the room and then I turn to find Victoria lying on the queen sized bed, still dressed in my flannel and a pair of jeans. I lean down and kiss her forehead. I grab one of the patchwork blankets and throw is over her. She snuggles up underneath it and continues to sleep. I lie down on the air mattress and stare up at the ceiling of my new surroundings.

"I love you, Gavin." I look up and see Victoria smiling down at me.

"I love you too; get some sleep, sweetheart." I rub the back of her hand with my thumb as she falls back asleep.

She nods and closes her eyes again.

~~~~~

I wake up early the next morning and pull on the clothes Victoria had packed for me. I brush my teeth and walk down the hallway to the kitchen. Jeffrey is sitting at the breakfast table which he's halfway cleaned up. Blaze is on one side of him and Slick is sitting on the other side with a chipped mug in his hand.

"Fresh coffee's in the pot." Jeffrey mutters and continues to write something down on the piece of paper that's in front of him. "Can you think of anything I should pick up at the grocery store?"

"What's already on the list?" I ask as I pour some coffee into a mug that Jeffrey set out for me.

"So far, my lovely brother and his friend have put down rum. I'm trying to convince them that they need some actual food but my wisdom is lost on them." Jeffrey rolls his eyes and gives me a begging look.

"I don't know, bread, milk?" I smirk and take a sip of my coffee.

"All 3 of you are nothing but addicts. I'll buy whatever the hell I feel like." Jeffrey stands up and puts his mug in the sink.

"As long as quality, Barbados rum is on that list, we'll be okay." I chuckle and high-five Blaze.

"How does Victoria deal with you guys?" Jeffrey shakes his head and raises an eyebrow at me.

"She'd want the rum too. She ain't some preacher woman that's never enjoyed a drop of alcohol in her life." Blaze grins and looks at his brother amusedly.

"That poor girl," Jeffrey shakes his head. "I fathom how she deals with you guys' and your egos."

"She's not that much different from us." I take a seat at the breakfast table and grin at Jeffrey's annoyance.

"I beg to differ." I look behind Jeffrey and see Victoria standing the hallway with a grin on her face. "First off, I'm a girl. Second, I don't drink as a hobby and thirdly, my ego is pretty well hidden."

Victoria walks off into the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee.

"Do you have any cream and sugar, Jeffrey?"

"No, please don't kill your coffee with that, it's perfectly fine on its own!" I groan and shake my head at Victoria.

"Don't kill your body with all that hard liquor." Victoria shouts back as Jeffrey hands her the cream and sugar.

"Touché." I say with a bit of defeat in my voice.

She defiles her coffee and then comes and sits on my lap. She takes a sip of her abomination against coffee and smirks.

"It's delicious," Victoria exhales and then takes another sip.

"Sure it is," I roll my eyes and shake my head a little, a smile spreading across my lips.

"Gavin, we better get going if want all your stuff to still be there." Blaze checks the time on the clock and begins to rush me through my coffee.

"Can you guys drop me off at the grocery store on your way there?" Jeffrey says as he grabs his keys.

"What about me?" Victoria pouts as she stands up so I can get to the front door.

"We'll be back in a couple of hours. Just stay here and stay out of sight." I kiss her forehead and grab a pair of sunglasses from Jeffrey's kitchen counter.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Victoria throws her arms up in frustration and glares at me.

I shrug and blow her a kiss as I follow the others out the door.

"Asshole," I hear her mumble under her breath.

"Love you too, babe." I shout with a huge grin as I slam the door shut and let Jeffrey lock it.

We all pile into his Jeep and begin to drive through the dirt covered floor of the forest towards an island town none of us can pronounce.

~~~~~

<Victoria Grayson>

I stalk over to the couch and turn on the TV, searching for any show that's played in English. I find a few but none of them interest me very much. I turn off the TV and sigh. I reach for my phone and turn on some music. I stand up and look around the house. The mess Jeffrey lives in bothers me to no end. I can't stand everything not being in its place and I can't stand having to move piles of junk just to be able to see the floor.

I go to the kitchen and grab a trash bag so I can throw out every used take-out container in sight. I drop in wadded up pieces of paper from the floor and smelly old boxes of Chinese take-out and other various cardboard boxes of half-eaten food. I load the dishwasher and organize all of his files and papers. While the dishwasher is running, I grab a laundry basket and load up all of his dirty clothes in it before going in search of an actual washing machine. I separate his clothes out sloppily and then throw them into the washing machine, pressing the start button once the door is closed.

I let out a deep breath and go around the house to collect dirty things and make beds. Once the house is mostly clean, I plop down on the couch and pick up the fashion magazine I couldn't focus on last night when I was waiting for Blaze's plan to crash and burn.

~~~~~

<Gavin Forrester>

We pull up in front my friend's house and go around to the back where all of my boxes are sitting so they could be protected from any bad weather. We all start grabbing boxes and walk back towards the Jeep to load them up. The 3 of us make a few trips and soon enough all of my stuff is packed up. It's a smaller amount than I expected but I trust that Victoria packed it all up. Blaze turns the key in the ignition and begins to drive away from the house.

Since the Jeep was made without any trunk, Slick and I are drowning in boxes in the backset and Blaze doesn't look much better up front. He calls his brother and tells him that he needs to be at the edge of town if he wants a ride home. I chuckle and watch the passing scenery of the island.

In 10 minutes, we arrive at the edge of town and Jeffrey gets in the front seat with a few bags of groceries. He clutches onto the side of the Jeep for dear life as Blaze begins to drive back towards the house. We pull up in front of it and I call Victoria so she can come out and help us. She comes out to the porch looking the same way she had when I left this morning. She walks quickly down the stairs and her jaw drops when she sees all that we've stuffed into the Jeep.

"You fools made it all the way back here like that?" She raises an eyebrow and turns towards me.

"Just barely." Jeffrey shudders as he carts the groceries up the front staircase.

Victoria grabs a few light boxes and follows him up. The rest of us do the same and walk through the open front door. The sight before us makes our eyes almost bulge out of our heads'.

"I swear there was a mess here when I left." Jeffrey says in a surprised tone.

"What the hell happened here?" Blaze chuckles as he sets down a box near the door.

"It's called cleaning. Apparently, that's a foreign concept to you guys." Victoria smirks as she turns to face the 4 of us.

"Thank God there are people like you in this world." Jeffrey smiles and walks around, admiring his newly cleaned house.

"Well, don't expect me to do this all the time. I just couldn't take any more of that mess." Victoria walks over to me and grabs my hand, a smile spreading across her face. "I don't want to be a housewife."

"We won't leave you here alone anymore." I promise and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, 'cause next time I may do some redecorating and I can guarantee you won't like the results." Victoria winks as she walks out into the kitchen to help Jeffrey put away groceries.